God's Holy Fire: 'In the Middle'

Friday, September 27, 2024

The hand of the Lord was on me [Ezekiel], and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; ...
— Ezekiel 37:1 NIV

Key Thought

I don't know about you, but I find myself "in the middle"! I'm in the middle of trying to help people overcome problems in their lives. I'm in the middle of trying to figure things out for myself. I'm in the middle of ministry opportunities in the lives of people looking for Jesus. The Holy Spirit has placed me in the middle of all of this. At the same time, I'm deeply convicted that the Holy Spirit wants to put me in the middle of God's work in the world. Unfortunately, I don't always follow the Spirit's leading. How about you? Sometimes our failure to follow is because of sin. Sometimes it is because of rebellion in our hearts when we are like Jonah and simply don't want to go. Sometimes it's because we don't believe the Spirit would take us out of one place and put us in another to do the work of God. These problems come from the devil's deception when he says that God doesn't work in our lives today as he did in the days the Bible was being written. So I want to challenge each of us to ask God to reveal what is keeping us from letting the Spirit put us in the middle of God's work. Then, let's commit to being where God wants us to be!

Today's Prayer

O Almighty God, Lord of the nations and Abba Father to my heart, I ask for your help. Please, dear Father, reveal to me the obstacles that I am allowing to block the Spirit's work in my life. I know that I allow these obstacles to keep me from following the Spirit into the middle of the places you want me to be. Please forgive me and, dear Father, help me remove those obstacles and follow your Spirit's leading. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

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Illustration

Illustration of Ezekiel 37:1 NIV — The hand of the Lord was on me [Ezekiel], and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; ...

About This Devotional

God's Holy Fire is a daily devotional about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The Thoughts and Prayer for God's Holy Fire are written by Phil Ware.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked MESSAGE are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.